Night settled in place just as they reached the border. Gaiane planned it that way. Darkness was their greatest ally and they'd need every advantage they could grasp for what they were about to do next.

They crossed the invisible line.

'Focus! We're in their lands now.'

She didn't need to remind them, they all knew the gravity of what they were doing, but there was no such thing as too much caution. This was the single most dangerous mission any of them had ever been assigned. More than double or even triple the difficulty of infiltrating one the human's bases. Though they took pride in their proficiency as a stealth unit, they were encroaching on the absolute kings of the field. There was no such thing as too much caution.

Her unit slowly stalked through the jungle, taking in every detail as they advanced further. They had eyes in every direction, at every angle. Nothing would escape their notice. It slowed them down tremendously, but she'd pay that price tenfold to complete this assignment without a hitch. The chances of that were low, but she'd do everything in her power and leave the rest to Aegeus.

The minutes turned to hours as they moved deeper and deeper into enemy territory. There was an air of tension. Fear was not a commonly felt emotion in her unit, but this was an extraordinary circumstance so it was forgiven. It had to be, she was feeling a bit of it herself. As long as they all remained focused on their task, however, she couldn't fault anyone for a little nerves.

The nerves got worse when they started spotting a few patrols, also deftly stalking through the vegetation, but as they successfully avoided each and every one of them they relaxed.

Encountering the patrols slowed them down even further, often pushing them to take very wide paths to avoid detection. The trees and vines hid much, but they knew each member of the patrol had a keen ahjer sense. It was best to stay as far away from them as possible. At times that meant they even had to circle backward, flanked on both sides by patrols or one patrol and unfavorable terrain.

There were many little patches of treeless fields on this side of the jungle. Most of them were barren besides a few clusters of flowers here or there, but a handful were filled with lightleaves. They illuminated their area in an ominous neon yellow. The light from fires did nothing to disrupt their camouflage spells, but lightleaves glow completely dispelled them. The fields containing them had to be avoided just as much as the patrols.

'30 NE. Two. Moving E.'

'20 S. One. Moving NW.'

Heading northwest?

'Turn 2. NE.'

Her entire unit shifted its direction slightly right. The patrol behind them was close, a bit too close for her liking. Twenty meters didn't give them much time to make any adjustments. Depending on what angle the patrol took to move to their northwest, they could get even closer. She couldn't have that. Though the patrol to their right was another concern, she hated being sandwiched in between like this.

'15 S. One. Moving NW.'

What?

'Turn 10. NE.'

Her unit adjusted instantly, veering even further right.

'25 NE. Two. Moving E.'

Acceptable.

They continued moving right until the patrol behind them had passed out of their range of vision, then they course-corrected.

These close brushes increased in frequency as they got closer to their destination. It was to be expected, but that didn't stop the nerves from reemerging. Even as they expertly maneuvered through them there were no moments of relief, just increased tension. Their own steps were silent, but they could hear every movement in the jungle. The slightest ruffles put everyone on edge.

'Location?'

'375 NW.'

Again.

They were really close now, less than four hundred meters away from their destination, but they kept losing ground. They'd been closer to three hundred meters not too long ago but all the detours had pushed them further away. If the status quo continued, the sun would rise before they reached their target.

'30 E. One. Running W.'

Running?

This wasn't the first time one of the patrols was moving with more urgency, but this time their trajectory led straight through her unit.

'Pace 4.'

They quickened their pace to a light jog.

'20 E. One. Running W.'

?!

'Pace 7.'

They quickened the pace again.

'25 NW. Two. Moving SE.'

'30 W. One. Running SW.'

'25 NE. Two. Moving N.'

Information poured in. Suddenly there were four patrols all in different directions. Her brain lagged as it tried to see the best path.

'20 E. One. Running W.'

'20 NW. Two. Moving SE.'

'20 NE. Two. Moving N.'

One of the patrols handled itself, but the other three were almost converging on their location.

'20 SE. One. Running W.'

'Turn 4 E.'

Her second made the decision for her. The entire unit heeded and veered heavily right, continuing their hurried jog.

'Pace 5.'

Her second gave the order again, slowing their speed just a smidge. She felt a bit of shame that she had let indecision grip her, but she quickly cast the emotion aside. This wasn't the time.

'Hold!'

Her voice boomed in her unit's minds, immediately halting their movements. The ones at the front were the first to stop. In fact, they had begun to slow down before she even gave the order.

A field of lightleaves laid in front of them.

'Form 3.'

They rearranged their formation into a diamond. They had no intention of fighting, but any time they were at a standstill she had them take up this formation. Just in case.

The minutes ticked by as they waited. They could see each of the patrols, hear them displacing the vegetation around them, but they stayed motionless. Two passed by and continued on their way, the last one though...

'10 W. Two. Moving S.'

This is it.

'Combat alert.'

They were here, just ten meters away. At this distance, she couldn't possibly hope they wouldn't notice the unit’s presence. So they’d just have to make the first move. Avoiding any contact was the goal, at least until they were on their way back, but Plan A rarely worked. Now, she prepared for an assault. As long as her side got to them before they alerted any others, they were still on course.

'Close. NW.'

'S3, attack!'

Four of her unit split off and darted towards the patrol. They were in close enough range now that it only took a second for them to reach the target. She carefully watched as different, attuned daggers manifested in each of their hands just before contact. They all aimed to kill in one swift motion. When the tips of their blades arrived, however, the results confused her.

The two patrollers just… disappeared. As if they were never there to begin with.

'Return!'

She didn't like that one bit. A random set of patrollers shouldn't be skilled enough to completely slip them like that. Something wasn't right. She recalled the squad of four, but instead of complying, they spoke.

'They're fake! Illusions.'

Impossible.

'Are you sure?'

'Yes.'

It couldn't be. They weren't using their normal sight, they were all using heat vision. There were illusions that faked heat signatures of course, but no one used them. Why would they? They were cumbersome and more costly to no added benefit. In the entire jungle, the only creatures bound to heat vision were of little import. That was the exact reason her unit used it. No one ever saw it coming. No one ever saw them coming. No one should even know they exist. For there to be illusions here specifically giving off fake heat signatures…

'Retreat!'

The order came too late, she could do nothing but grimace as she felt two of the squad disappear from the Network.

‘Enemy!’

Nothing could be done to save the final two. She and the remaining eight were already escaping posthaste. Though they failed to reach their destination, discovering the illusion was enough. Now, they had to survive to be able to report back.

Not even ten meters into their escape, the entire third squad disappeared from the Network. All dead. Whoever killed them did so almost effortlessly. That kind of strength disparity could only mean one thing, a Blessed. Danger. They would surely chase the rest of them, but with their spe—another disappeared from the Network. She instantly jerked her head to the side and watched the slowest of the group fall lifelessly to the ground.

‘Enemy Blessed! Stand! Form 2.’

The frantic sprint halted, shifting into a defensive triangle around her. She was wrong about their speed, they wouldn’t outrun them. Better than being picked off one by one, they’d stand and fight.

A fight didn’t arrive. They all scanned the area they’d just run from, but none of them could spot a soul. Even when she had some of them switch back to their regular vision, nothing changed. It was telling that none of the patrols they painstakingly avoided earlier could be spotted either, but that was a thought for when they survived. For now, they waited, they watched, and they listened. Without any visual stimuli, sound was their main diet. Each time a vine swayed or two leaves brushed against each other, they twitched. They expected to be on the end of any kind of assault, but instead they received nothing. Nothing at a—

‘Left!’

Another had disconnected, this time at the leftmost tip of their formation.

‘Location?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I don’t know.’

Neither of the two stationed on left had seen what happened. Neither had seen the Blessed. Their kill was perfect.

‘Look h—Right!’

Another one, on the far right.

‘Where?!’

She received the same answer, no one knew anything. They were fighting a ghost.

‘Form 3.’

They went back to the diamond. It was more a move of desperation than a piece of any real plan. She didn’t know what her next steps should be. She always knew what they would be going up against in theory, but the reality of it was so different from what she expected. They heard nothing, saw nothing, senses nothing. How was she supposed to combat this? The reports mentioned their ability to completely avoid detection, but it said nothing about them being able to attack while in that state. In fact, it said the opposite. Before they made a kill, they were supposed to be visible. That was clearly false.

She had to calm herself down, she was becoming agitated. More of her people would die if this continued. T—

‘Lef—Retreat!’

That was it. Too many of them had died without them getting even a glimpse of the killer. The decision to run would likely kill many of them as well, but they were already being picked off at a standstill. Between the two poisons, only one got them closer to completing their mission.

‘Scatter!’

She hated having to do this, having to condemn her people to death, but this was the best way to guarantee at least some of them would survive. They couldn’t be facing more than one Blessed, there was no need for the stealth if they were. Whoever they were, they couldn’t possibly get to all of them.

She thought.

Within a handful of minutes, two more were down. A few more minutes later, another went. Then another. In half an hour, they were down to just three.

She couldn’t believe it. How were they being picked off so easily? She had never felt anything like this before. This fear, this dread, this feeling of being a helpless mouse waited to be pounced upon. As she reached out through the Network, she felt the intense loss too.

We’re not going to make it.

Just as she thought that, another fell. They were down to two, just her and her second, and she didn’t believe they would last much longer either. This was truly the end for them.

If this is it…

‘Protect me!’

She slowed down and began casting a spell. A long-range communication spell. She summoned all the ahjer she could muster, every single drop. With every ounce of useable ahjer in her body, she could send a message four hundred meters. She needed more than that. So she started gathering the unusable ahjer. The ahjer the powered her body, powered her mind, gave her life. If she would lose it anyway, she would lose it in service of her people. In service of avenging her unit. They would not die in vain.

The range of the spell ballooned beyond two thousand meters, enough for her to reach home. She didn’t waste a second, immediately locating the closest messenger to the Archon and throwing every bit of information she could at them. They were most definitely completely unprepared for the barrage, but as long as they delivered the message she didn’t care. Once done, the spell faded, the connection ended, and she collapsed to the ground.

In her last moments, she glimpsed her second’s severed head flying into the bushes. It was okay though, he would be avenged too. They would all be. In just a few moments the Archon would know. Know that the panthers were weak.

And when he learned that, war would come.